The present invention relates to a piezoelectric device using a piezoelectric material, more specifically to a piezoelectric device for use in a head of an ink jet printer, actuator or others, and a method for fabricating the same.
As a piezoelectric device used in a head of an ink jet printer, actuator or others, a piezoelectric device having a high achievement of providing high displacement with low voltage charge is required. To fabricate a piezoelectric device of such high achievement it is necessary to produce raw material powder which is able to be sintered sufficiently to exhibit high piezoelectric characteristics before sintered.
To produce piezoelectric raw material of high achievement, piezoelectric characteristics have been improved conventionally by mixing respective raw materials, repeating pre-sintering several times to obtain a higher ratio of perovskite phase, which exhibits high piezoelectric characteristics.
For piezoelectric characteristics improvement, various materials, such as Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3, MnO.sub.2, etc. are added.
Although piezoelectric characteristics are thus improved, the side of apparatuses, such as ink jet printers, etc., which use piezoelectric devices requires piezoelectric devices of higher achievements.
Conventionally alumina balls have been used as a mixing medium, and the alumina balls are abraded, and the alumina often mix into the raw materials to resultantly deteriorate piezoelectric characteristics.
Conventionally water or alcohol is used as a solvent for mixing respective raw materials, and when the mixed powder is recovered, the respective raw material powders which have been mixed are separated due to sedimentation with a result that sintered piezoelectric ceramics often has an inhomogeneous composition. Due to the inhomogeneous composition, pyrochlore phase, which exhibit no piezoelectric characteristics, is produced, which results in reduced piezoelectric achievement.
Addition of various material results in improved piezoelectric characteristics, but when they are added in large amounts, the added materials are segregated in grain boundaries with results that ceramics is not sufficiently sintered and has low sintering density. Sufficient piezoelectric characteristics cannot be realized.